Threat levels up in India, militant outfits working together: Chidambaram

Home Minister P Chidambaram said that threat levels in India are high with Pakistan-based terror outfits deciding to work in tandem even as there are reports of infiltration again increasing across the Kashmir Valley. "We simply have to keep our powder dry. Make sure that we remain on high alert because four organisations are working in consort. That means the level of threat is pretty high," Chidambaram said.

Threat levels in India are high with Pakistan-based terror outfits deciding to work in tandem even as there are reports of infiltration again increasing across the Kashmir Valley, Home Minister P Chidambaram said on Friday.

"We simply have to keep our powder dry. Make sure that we remain on high alert because four organisations are working in consort. That means the level of threat is pretty high," Chidambaram told the NDTV news channel in an interview.

He said the four terrorist organisations - Lashker-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Jamat-ul-Mujahideen (JuM) and Hizbul Mujahideen - were earlier operating separately but had come together now.

Intercepted conversations of LeT terrorists pointed to their presence in Kashmir but Chidambaram said that there was no reliable proof of Taliban presence in India yet.

"I don't think anyone has captured anyone to identify him as a Taliban. All that we know is that there is a serious attempt to infiltrate into India," he said.

However, Chidambaram admitted he did not know whether the militant groups were under the control of the Taliban or other state or non-state actors.

In an interview to another news channel this week, Chidambaram while talking on the security situation in the country said infiltrators would try to cause "mayhem" during the April-May elections.

"We have specific intelligence that infiltrators will try to disrupt elections.. will try to cause violence when the election process is on in this country."

"You see infiltrators will come to India in order to cause mayhem here and what better time to do that than when elections are on? Many leaders are moving, travelling and more exposed."

The home minister said because of these threats "we thought it was wise to caution political leaders about their movements and request them to take precautions".